Walking the Via Francigena Pilgrim Route - Part 1

Sanford 'Sandy' Brown is a long-distance walker and ordained minister who lives in Lucca, Italy. He was born in California and his great-grandparents migrated to San Juan Capistrano from Mexico in the 19th century. Inspired by The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho, he trekked the Camino de Santiago in 2008 and since then has walked over 14,000km on pilgrim trails in Europe and the U.S. He records his pilgrim adventures in his popular blog at https://caminoist.org. In 2020, Sandy joined Cicerone Press as Associate Publisher for Caminos and Pilgrimages. Sandy earned his undergraduate degree in medieval history at the University of Washington in Seattle, his MDiv at Garrett Theological Seminary, which honored him in 2006 as Distinguished Alumnus, and in 1997 earned a doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary in gender, sexuality and spirituality. In his spare time he enjoys yoga, sailing and piano. He has two grown sons and his wife, Theresa Elliott, is a yoga master teacher.